Ethics is an area of increasing interest as the field of communication confronts new challenges brought on by the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is ushering in a new era of transformation for journalism and media content (Pavlik, 2023), while algorithms are increasingly determining editorial decisions (Porlezza, 2023), and content selection (Trattner, Jannach, Motta, et al., 2022).
For this reason, Communication & Society will devote an annual special issue throughout 2024 to examine the implications from a dual perspective. First, AI has major ethical challenges. On the other hand, the potential impact of AI on production processes and practices in the field has yet to be fully explored.
Beyond the examination of particular AI tools and applications, this call for papers endeavors to make a contribution to the continuous discussion on essential and overarching concerns that could impact communication firms, clients, groups and audiences. In essence, it is about understanding the potential ethical and deontological challenges and issues that could have an effect on a diverse array of practices, production procedures, workflows and regulations for media journalists, audio-visual creatives, and marketing professionals. We are also interested in studies on the reception of AI news and contents by audiences. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Ethical foundations for the use of artificial intelligence technologies in the communication sector
- Ethics, generative AI, and bias.
- Ethical implications for regulation, policy, and the use of AI in communication.
- Algorithmic literacy for communication studies.
- Generative AI and intellectual property / copyright issues.
- Audience habits and reception Studies: audience engagement and AI.
- AI in persuasive communication: advertising, PR, and marketing.
- Implications of AI for credibility in public communication and election campaigns.
- AI implications for public opinion and political communication.
- Creativity and AI: scriptwriting, photojournalism, art direction, cinematography, graphics, post-production, soundtrack…
- Fake news and deepfakes: social media, truth and AI.
- Using AI for fact-checking.
- Professional challenges for communication professionals and AI: new products, recruitment profiles and routines.
- Sustainability as a factor for ethical communication and AI.
- The impact of artificial intelligence on media policy.
- Quality vs. quantity in platform catalogs: AI, personalization and sustainable policies in audiovisual content production.
- Uses of AI in media management.
Paper submission deadline
- Submissions will be accepted throughout the year. AI-related papers will be published in three consecutive issues: April, June and October.
- Articles should be submitted at least three months in advance of each issue to allow for the full peer review process.
- Authors should indicate in the “Author’s Comments” section that the article is intended for this annual monograph in 2024.
- Proposed articles must adhere to the journal’s style standards, which can be found at the following link: https://revistas.unav.edu/index.php/communication-and-society/about/submissions